


Making Amends

by BatmanWhoLaughss



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Apologies, Coda, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e15 Revelations, Episode: s02e17 Distress, Episode: s02e18 Jones, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Sad Spencer Reid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25204684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatmanWhoLaughss/pseuds/BatmanWhoLaughss
Summary: He was nervous, and Emily could see the tension in his frame, written all over him. She dropped into the chair across from him as he sipped the water. “What’s going on, Reid?”He sighed deeply, glancing up to look her in the eye. She could see his lips turned downwards into a slight frown, and the dark circles under his eyes that betrayed his lack of sleep. “I owe you an apology.”---Coda for 2x17 and 2x18: After Spencer snaps at Emily for an entire case, he decides he needs to make amends. It marks the start of something great.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid
Comments: 6
Kudos: 119





	Making Amends

**Author's Note:**

> I wish we got to see this scene in canon, so I had to write it. My personal headcanon is that Reid is way too nice not to want to apologize to Emily, and that moment was when they really started to bond- their friendship doesn't get enough love in canon imo. Hope you like it!

The knock on Emily’s door came a little after nine. 

It was soft, almost tentative, and she raised an eyebrow as she glanced up in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting anyone, and not many people knew where she lived yet. They’d gotten back from New Orleans only a few hours before, and she was just about to settle in with a bottle of wine and Kurt Vonnegut. As a precaution, she grabbed for her gun, since you really couldn’t be too careful these days, and headed towards the door. 

She stiffened with surprise as she came face to face with Spencer Reid. He glanced at her with wide eyes, before looking off to the side and rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. He was fidgety, looking apprehensive and out of place in the entryway of her apartment. It was like he wound up here by accident, and she placed her weapon back in its holster as her brow furrowed. 

Emily couldn’t imagine what he was doing here. He’d spent the past couple weeks putting as much distance between the two of them as possible, and doing nothing but snapping at her constantly. She knew he’d been struggling after the Hankel case, and she couldn’t blame him, but she couldn’t deny the hurt she felt when he kept yelling at her– _ just _ her. But now, it seemed like all the fight, all the anger and malice had gone out of him, and he looked… he looked almost  _ scared.  _

“Reid?” She couldn’t hide the surprise in her tone, and as he glanced up at her again, she could see the sadness in his eyes. Her mouth opened in surprise– she had no idea he knew where to find her. “How did you– what are you doing here?”

“I asked Garcia.” His voice was soft, and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously again. She was surprised by how timid he seemed; it was a stark contrast to the irritation she was used to. “Do you– can I come in?” 

There was the slightest tremor in his voice as he asked the question, and Emily nodded, her face still betraying her confusion. She stepped aside to let Reid pass, and he tucked his head into his chin as he made his way into her living room. As she closed the door behind him, she could tell he was still restless; he was pacing back and forth across the room, his arms folded across his chest. He was mouthing something to himself, and Emily tried to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them. “Can I get you some water or something?”

Reid nodded slightly, looking like he was lost in thought. “That’d be great,” he muttered. Emily gestured for him to sit on the couch behind him as she went to grab a glass. She was back a moment later, and she could see his leg bouncing up and down as he took the glass from her. 

He was nervous, and she could see the tension in his frame, written all over him. She dropped into the chair across from him as he sipped the water. “What’s going on, Reid?”  _ May as well get right to the point.  _

He sighed deeply, glancing up to look her in the eye. She could see his lips turned downwards into a slight frown, and the dark circles under his eyes that betrayed his lack of sleep. “I owe you an apology.” 

Emily tensed, her brow rising in shock. That wasn’t what she expected him to say. Sure, she’d been curious about his strange behavior the past couple weeks, and hurt that he was treating her like that, but he’d been better the last few days. He wasn’t snapping at her as much, and she’d been ready to just forget it and move on. Though, now that he was here, she figured she should hear him out. “Oh?” 

“I’m sorry, for– for how I’ve been acting lately. It wasn’t fair.” Reid’s voice was still quiet, and he glanced down at his hands. His leg was still bouncing, and the image of his lanky frame, beaten and bloody inside a darkened shed flashed in her mind. He’d been through so much in the past couple weeks, and she suddenly found that she wasn’t upset– not anymore. People react to trauma in all kinds of ways, and a little irritability was something she could certainly forgive him for. 

“Oh, Reid, it’s okay. You don’t have to–”

“Prentiss, please? I just… I need to say this.” There was a tremor in his voice that she’d never heard before. But then again, she really didn’t know Spencer Reid all that well, did she? She remembered his outburst in front of the homeless shelter two weeks ago, and she closed her mouth, nodding at him to continue. 

He’d set the glass of water down on the coffee table, and his hands were fidgeting in his lap as he sighed again. “I have a hard time saying how I’m feeling.” His voice pitched upwards at the end, like it was a question and not a statement. Emily nodded; she’d only worked with Reid for a few months, but she could tell that he kept things pretty close to the chest. He swallowed, steeling himself before he kept going.

“Things have been… bad, for me, since Georgia. I haven’t been doing great.” He said it like he was ashamed of himself, and she felt her heart break a little at what he’d been through. Even so, she wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Reid was only just starting to be nice to her again, and to see such a raw display of emotion from him now was a little odd to say the least. Still, he was a friend, even if things had been a little weird lately, and there was a gloomy aura about him that she really didn’t like. 

“Hey, it’s okay. No one expects you to bounce back right away.” She was no stranger to scary situations, and to go through what he had at his age… he was braver than almost anyone she knew. She could see what it cost him to admit the truth, and she was grateful, honored that he was choosing to trust her with his emotions when it was clearly so difficult for him to do so. 

“I know.” His cheeks turned faintly pink. “But I’ve been… struggling. My emotions are all over the place.” He swallowed, running a hand over his face before continuing. “I took that out on you, and it wasn’t fair. I’m really sorry.” The last few words were barely more than a whisper, and he was still looking at the floor. 

Prentiss blinked at him for a moment before responding. This was a far cry from the Spencer Reid that they’d all spent the last couple weeks with. This Reid looked like he was about a second away from fracturing into a million tiny pieces, and Emily’s heart swelled at how sincere he sounded. She’d already forgiven him, even though some residual hurt at being singled out remained, but she was still grateful that he chose to own up to it.

“Thank you for saying that.” Her voice was warm, and she saw Reid glance up in surprise as he registered it. She was smiling at him, and judging by the shocked look in his eye, that wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. Still, she saw him visibly relax a bit, which was a good sign. “But you don’t need to apologize, really. I get it.”

“Yes I did.” There was a bitter, self-deprecating edge to his voice that surprised her. “You’ve been a valuable part of this team, and I treated you horribly. You were the new kid, and I got defensive, and I shouldn’t have.”

“ _ Reid.  _ Seriously, it’s okay. I’m not upset.” Emily moved to sit next to Spencer on the couch, and she felt him stiffen as she tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been through hell. I forgive you for being a little crabby lately.” She hesitated before pressing on, not wanting to push him, but knowing he still had something on his mind. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

His eyes were shining as he looked at her, before whispering softly, “I don’t like the person I’ve been lately. I’m trying to be better.” 

“Hey.” Her hand was still on his shoulder, and she squeezed it lightly. “We all have bad days, sometimes bad weeks. But we’re all here for you.”

He let out a shaky laugh. “I know, and I appreciate everyone being so nice to me. I just… I feel like I”m letting everyone down.”

“Come on, Reid.” Now Emily was laughing. “You’re brilliant, but you’re still human. Not many people could have survived what you survived. No one thinks any less of you for having a hard time right now.”

Reid ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Thanks, Emily.” He was smiling now, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. It was a welcome sight. 

“Look, I know I haven’t been here very long, but for what it's worth? I’ve seen men twice your age that broke completely after something like this. You’re one of the strongest people I know, and you’re gonna get through this.”

“You think so?” There was so much vulnerability in his voice, and Emily was still surprised that he was letting his guard down like this, around her, of all people. She could tell that Reid didn’t get close to people easily, and it meant a lot that he was choosing to trust her. Maybe it meant that she was finally becoming a part of the team. 

She nodded. “I know so.” 

His smile got bigger as he flushed a deeper shade of red. She meant it too; Spencer Reid was so much more than he let on, and she had no doubts that he would be okay after some time. And she wouldn’t begrudge him a few snippy comments. 

“I hope you’re right. I-” His eyes widened as he caught sight of something across the room. “Is that a whole  _ shelf _ of Ray Bradbury?!” 

“What?” Turning around, Emily could see that her bookshelf was right in his eyeline. “Oh, yeah. I’ve got most of his and Vonnegut’s books, they were my favorites growing up.” 

“I  _ love _ Ray Bradbury, his stuff is classic!” It was like Reid’s whole demeanor changed, and he lit up like a kid in a candy store. He jumped up off the couch and practically ran to her bookshelf, his smile the brightest it had been since before Georgia. She couldn’t help but smile back at him, as he scrutinized her bookshelf in that way only he could. All of his nervous energy and vulnerability had been replaced by pure, unadulterated excitement, and it warmed her heart to see him happy again. 

He turned back to look at her, his eyebrows raised and his mouth open in a shocked grin. “I didn’t know you were a sci-fi fan! What’s your favorite?” His eyes were bright, shining and curious, the sadness in them momentarily absent as he waited for her response. She’d missed that rapid-fire energetic quality in him the past few weeks. 

“Oh, hmm.” She pretended to think for a moment, just to keep him in suspense. “Something Wicked This Way Comes is probably his best.” 

“That’s my  _ favorite! _ ” His smile got even wider, if that were possible. “It’s more horror than science fiction, but it’s a  _ masterpiece  _ of a book.” He bounded back over to sit on the couch with her, his smile still lighting up his face. “How have we never talked about this before?”

“I guess it never came up,” Emily laughed. 

They spent the next hour or so talking about science fiction and literature, and Reid’s eyes seemed to lose that permanently morose quality to them as they did. For the first time, it seemed like he wasn’t thinking about Hankel, or torture, or UnSubs, and his smile seemed to light up the dim dark of her apartment. Emily was still subtly studying him, but he was firmly in his element now. He was rambling about his favorite science fiction novels and asking about hers, and all traces of their previous conversation seemed to vanish as they talked. 

It felt like something in their friendship shifted then. He’d been keeping her at arms length since she joined the team, because she was new and he didn’t really trust her yet. Because he didn’t get close to people easily and he made getting to know him simultaneously easy and impossibly hard. But now, it felt like he  _ finally _ trusted her, enough to stop seeing her as separate from the rest of the team’s close-knit friend group. And for the first time since he was kidnapped and dragged through a cornfield in Georgia, Emily felt like maybe things were really going to be okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, Something Wicked This Way Comes being Reid's favorite definitely came from an interview with MGG where he called it a masterpiece of a book and I shamelessly adapted it to Reid.
> 
> But also, I love the post-revelations era and I have so many ideas for this time period, Criminal Minds has been the best muse. 
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated! You can also find me on tumblr @ batmanwholaughss


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